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Ahri

Syndra

Ekko

Taliyah

Aurelion Sol

sit under tower and farm you win late but try to ping MIA as much as you can because he roams a lot

Viktor

Minor

easy matchup just survive the early poke by pushing

Ryze

Even

Anivia

Minor

Twisted Fate

Even

Fizz

Extreme

dont get hit by his ult at level 6 or you are DEAD. build hourglass or banshees if behind

Kassadin

Extreme

easy lane till he hits 6 then you cant go near him or he dashes all over you / try to ask for a gank pre6

Zed

Major

like fizz but ad. build hourglass after ludens if he is a problem

Yasuo

Major

you can never 1v1 him unless he is very behind always poke and wait for jungler ganks

Akali

Minor

stay back and avoid her ult you / all of your spells hit her in shroud

Zoe

Even

if you get a lead on her its free win if she gets a lead you get 1 shot

Brand

Tiny

he cant reach you and has no dash to evade your spells

Corki

Even

Galio

Minor

Diana

Major

verry annoying she shields all poke early and when she is 6 can burst you

Malzahar

Minor

you outrange him hard just try to outpush him

Katarina

Extreme

not that hard of a matchup if you position away from her daggers but try to not give ANY kills to kat

Lissandra

Tiny

very easy matchup she is slow and low range

Orianna

Minor

early lane is annoying with the poke but late she cant reach you

Lux

Tiny

dodge q and you will never die to her

Vladimir

Major

he heals a lot but only a problem when fed

Ziggs

Minor

depending on how good the ziggs is its a waveclear matchup

Neeko

Minor

dont get hit by stun and you win

Introduction to the Author

Hi I'm Zwag, I've been Challenger with Xerath for 2 seasons now. Here are some things you should know about me:
-Challenger on NA server
-Rank 1 Xerath on lolskill
-2.3 million mastery points on Xerath between all of my accounts
-Twitch streamer
-Special thanks to Booper for his help organizing the information and coding the guide!

Pros and Cons of Xerath

Early Game as Xerath

Early Game as Xerath
In the early game as Xerath, focus on farming as much as you can. Poke when your mana is above 50% and also recognize when Manaflow Band and Arcane Comet are up and poke when they are available. Since you are immobile, you shouldn't push too hard to avoid getting ganked by the enemy jungler or have the wave frozen outside the enemy tower. If the enemy laner backs, look to shove out the wave and roam with your Rite of the Arcane

Mid Game as Xerath

Mid Game as Xerath
Make sure to wave clear to keep mid tower alive. When the time is right, look to assist your team with objectives such as Rift Herald or Dragon. When you get into skirmishes or team fights make sure that you aren't on the front line though! Oftentimes you're going to want to poke before going all in, and later in fights use your ultimate to pick off low health enemies.

Late Game as Xerath

Late Game as Xerath
Make sure to stay in the backline while teamfighting and when possible focus your poke on the enemy ADC or midlaner. Xerath's late game damage is insane with the scaling build and masteries you bring to a point where a basic combo can one shot a member of their back line. It is important to play safe with your positioning though because you are immobile and have low defenses yourself!

Summoner Spells

Summoner Spells Flash The most utilized summoner spell in League of Legends: use it to get away from danger or on rare occasion to get into range to secure a crowd control or a kill.

Barrier Usually my second summoner spell on Xerath. Barrier is on a shorter cooldown than Heal and does well against grievous wounds from something like Ignite because it is a shield, not a heal. However, Barrier takes more skill to use due to the need for proper timing.

Heal is beneficial due to the quick burst of health given, the haste, and it's ability to heal allies, making it a good summoner spell for 2v2s mid lane or in team fights. It does however lose to Ignite's grievous wounds.

Take Cleanse against midlaners that have strong crowd control such as , , It is also sometimes important to take Cleanse versus junglers that have strong crowd control such as , and .

Runes

The runes I bring are all for good reason. Below are the explanations for each one:

Sorcery

Arcane Comet is easy to land with your abilities and scales better than Aery.

Manaflow Band is easy to stack in lane with your Arcanopulse and Eye of Destruction. It gives you maximum mana for more poke and mana regeneration when stacked.

Transcendence is good for hitting 45% CDR late game so you can sling out more spells faster.

Gathering Storm is good on Xerath because as a late game champ who scales with items, more AP given over time just helps you scale that much more.

Inspiration

As Xerath, you don't roam as much as other midlaners. You sit in lane and roam from afar so it saves you the 300g you would've spent on boots and puts it towards your core items. Magical Footwear boots also give you more movement speed than regular boots, making them more effective and you more mobile!

Cosmic Insight allows you to hit 45% cooldown reduction with the build I go. This allows your abilities including summoner spells to be on a lower cooldown.

W > Q:

Stealth Sniper Q

Begin to charge up your Arcanopulse in fog of war while you have vision of the enemy. When you release the Q while moving forward, it will seem like it came out of nowhere!

Out of Wards

If you don't have a ward to put down but need to check a brush or baron pit, use your Eye of Destruction on the area to give you sight.

Videos

Now that you have all the information you need to play Xerath, get out there and make me proud. If you'd like to watch some of my own gameplay, feel free to follow me on Twitch. Also check out some of my YouTube videos. Good luck and I hope to hear about your great Xerath success.